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AUGUSTA – Mark Ballard (.575, 10 homers, 47 RBIs) and Mike Hayward (.484-8-30) rang up the big offensive numbers during the regular season for New Auburn’s Zone 3 American Legion baseball champs.
But, it was third baseman Adam Webster who was Mr. Clutch for New Auburn on Thursday in their State American Legion Tournament opener against Brewer at McGuire Field.
Webster doubled and scored in the second inning and hit a two-out, two-run single in the decisive three-run third inning to lead the defending state champs to a 6-1 win over Brewer.
New Auburn, 25-1 and winner of 11 straight, will now face 22-4 A & M Transmission of South Portland at 2 p.m. at Togus. Brewer fell to 21-7 and will play 20-9 Fairfield at 10 a.m. at Togus.
Righthander Ballard went the distance for the win, scattering four hits and three walks while striking out 10. Ballard threw 72 strikes among his 112 pitches. He sewed up the win with a two-run homer in the eighth.
New Auburn hit only one ball out of the infield in the third inning to break a 1-1 tie, Webster’s line-drive single.
Tom Bell opened the inning with an infield hit to third and Mike Fickett walked.
Matt Strong popped a bunt in the air that dropped in front of Brewer losing pitcher Al Perkins. Perkins tried to scoop it, but it bounced out of his glove for an error that loaded the bases.
“I thought the ball was going to go farther than it did,” said Perkins. “I should have dove.”
Perkins struck out Chris Poirier, but he then hit Hayward with a pitch to force in the go-ahead run. Ballard popped up for the second out but Webster ripped a 1-0 pitch into left center to score Fickett and Strong.
“He wasn’t getting his curve over so I knew he was going to come in with a fastball and that’s my pitch,” said Webster. “It was around the thighs like the pitch I hit the double on, but it was a little more inside. I like to hit with men on base. I like to get the clutch hit.”
“Adam’s done that all year, in high school (Edward Little) and in Legion ball,” said New Auburn Coach Bruce Lucas. “He loves to hit with men on.”
After working out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth, Ballard cruised the rest of the way. Brewer didn’t get a hit after that and managed only three baserunners.
“This was definitely one of my better outings of the summer,” said Ballard. “I was throwing mostly fastballs in the first two innings and they were all over it. So, I mixed in a hard slider and started coming over the top with a slower slider which had more of a drop to it. I thought I had pretty good command of my fastballs and sliders.”
“He was probably the best pitcher we’ve seen all year. He threw hard,” said Perkins, who hurled eight innings of impressive seven-hit baseball with four strikeouts and three walks. Only two of the runs were earned.
“Ballard hit the corners really well,” said Brewer catcher Marshall Tracy.
“We hit the ball well but the ball didn’t drop in for us,” said Jamie White. “We didn’t get any breaks.”
Webster’s double, Chris Reed’s bad-hop single and Perkins’ wild pitch staked New Auburn to a 1-0 lead in the second, but Brewer tied it in the third on Jamie White’s sharp RBI single to right center.
Ballard’s homer to right center in the eighth came off an 0-2 fastball and followed an infield error.
New Auburn 6, Brewer 1
Brewer New Auburn
Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi
Dyer, cf 4 1 0 0 Strong, rf 2 1 0 0
Grant, ss 3 0 0 0 Poirier, lf 4 1 0 0
J. White, lf 4 0 2 1 Hayward, ss 3 0 0 1
Beaton, rf 3 0 0 0 Ballard, p 4 1 1 2
Swift, 3b 4 0 0 0 Webster, 3b 3 1 2 2
Soucy, 1b 3 0 1 0 Reed, 1b 4 0 2 0
a-Smith 0 0 0 0 Dumais, cf 4 0 1 0
Tracy, c 3 0 1 0 Bell, 2b 3 1 1 0
b-0’Connor 1 0 0 0 Fickett, c 2 1 0 0
Perkins, p 3 0 0 0
c-G. White 1 0 0 0
Chambers, 2b 3 0 0 0
Totals 32 1 4 1 Totals 29 6 7 5
a-ran for Soucy in 9th inning
b-lined into double play for Tracy in 9th inning
c-grounded out for Perkins in 9th inning
Brewer 001 000 000 – 1
New Auburn 013 000 02x – 6
E – Bell; Perkins, Grant, Swift 2B – Webster HR – Ballard (11) LOB -Brewer 7, New Auburn 4 DP – Hayward to Reed; Beaton to Soucy; Grant to Chambers to Soucy S – Strong
Pitching Summary
PITCHER IP H R BB SO
Brewer
Perkins (L, 5-2) 8 7 6 3 4
New Auburn
Ballard (W, 4-0) 9 4 1 3 10
HBP – Hayward (by Perkins) WP – Ballard 2; Perkins TIME -2:31
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